Improvements coming to Rainbow Drive-Whorton Bend Road intersection
Members of the Etowah County legislative delegation happily announced a grant on Wednesday that will fund improvements to the intersection of Whorton Bend Road and Rainbow Drive in Gadsden.
District 6 Commissioner Craig Inzer Jr. said the county applied for the grant from state ATRIP II funds last November. He said he and County Engineer Robert Nail worked on the application, and the entire County Commission supported the project, approving a $75,883 local match.
The ATRIP grant totals $545,289; the estimated total cost of the project is $621,172.
Rep. Craig Lipscomb, R-Rainbow City, Rep. Gil Isbell, R-Gadsden, and Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, announced the project will include turn lanes and signal upgrades at the intersection, where Whorton Bend Road runs into Rainbow Drive.
Inzer said heavy morning traffic on Whorton Bend Road is typically turning to the right, toward Gadsden, and there's no turn lane to move vehicles out of traffic. As traffic backs up, he said, some people cut through the parking lot at the Shell gas station, which is not a good solution.
In the evenings, when return traffic turns off Rainbow Drive onto Whorton Bend Road, there is a turn lane, but it will only accommodate three or four vehicles, Inzer said, so traffic backs up on Rainbow Drive.
"It's definitely a safety issue," Etowah County Chief Administrative Officer Shane Ellison said.
With the limited capacity of the turn lane, traffic waiting to turn blocks the left lane.
"You have people trying to merge all of (a) sudden," Ellison said, making travel there hazardous.
Nail said it's the county's first ATRIP II project, so he's not certain of the timeline when work will begin. He said the project still must go through the Alabama Department of Transportation's process and while he can't be sure, his guess would be that construction would start next year.
He said the project will extend the turn lane for drivers turning from Rainbow Drive onto Whorton Bend and add right and left turn lanes from Whorton Bend onto Rainbow Drive.
Traffic signals will be upgraded for the added lanes, Nail said, but changes in the lights at the intersection will be minimal.
Inzer said he and Nail thought the chances for the grant were improved because it is a county road that butts into a state highway.
He noted the project affects county District 6, residents in Lipscomb's District 30 and, at the intersection where the work will be done, Isbell's District 28, and that all worked to push the project forward.
Isbell said the grant is funded through the Rebuild Alabama Act and he also credited the combined work of community leaders to obtain it.
Jones noted in a Facebook post that the ATRIP-II committee is made up of senators and representatives, and that funding for the project comes from gasoline tax revenue. "(I'm) proud to help bring some of your tax dollars back home," he said.
Isbell said concerns at that intersection have been a priority for a while because of that late afternoon traffic crunch and the problems caused by traffic backing up onto Rainbow Drive.
He said Etowah County's participation helped move the project forward. "If you have skin in the game," he said, state officials and ALDOT take notice.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Etowah County gets grant for Rainbow Drive-Whorton Bend Road project
